Easy Gingerbread Cookies

These are big, soft, fabulous gingerbread cookies. I realize I don't actually own any cookie cutters, so round cookies are the way that I roll.  This recipe makes about 15 large-ish cookies, which is the perfect number to have around our house. When I make these for a gathering or for gifting at Christmas, I double the recipe.

Recipe is slightly adapted from allrecipes.com.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup margarine, melted
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour

Method:
1. In a large bowl, add the sugar, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and baking soda. Stir to combine.

2. Add the melted margarine, molasses, milk, and vanilla, stirring to mix.

3. Add flour one cup at a time, stirring well to ensure it is incorporated. Chill completed dough in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

4. Knead the dough a few times on a well-floured surface. Make into balls and flatten, then place on cookie sheet. My flattened dough balls are about 3 inches across.

5. Bake in 375°F oven for 10-12 minutes. Be sure to check them, as the bottoms can turn on you and brown/burn really fast.

6. Cool on wire rack and ice with your favourite icing. I use a simple icing sugar and water (or milk) mixture that just adds a nice amount of sweet to the top of the cookie. Super yum!

Here We Come a-Waffling

So I've been reading all about delicious homemade waffles over at the Happy Whisk and I got a major craving on for waffles. I don't have a waffle maker and I've never actually made them at home, but I do have a strong appreciation for store bought ones and got myself a box of them.

These always remind me of living in university residence. I ate a lot of cheap and barely nutritious food while at school, and I count boxed waffles as a sure favourite. I love the way the butter and the syrup pool in the little squares. Such a joy to experience.

Waffles also make me think of A Claymation Christmas, which my bros and I watched a million times as kids. "Here we come a-waffling" is still pretty great.

Raspberry Pie

There was a super deal on frozen berries a few weeks ago, and we ended up buying 8 bags of them (we are daily smoothie drinkers). Having all the berries in the freezer got me thinking beyond smoothies and I honed my thoughts in on raspberry pie.

If I had to pick, raspberries are my absolute favourite berry, so it was only a matter of time before they ended up in a homemade dessert. I absolutely love this pie and am really happy I tried it. The filling has the kind of tartness that makes you think about it longingly days later. The sour of this pie is perfectly evened out with just a bit of whipped cream. So so good.

Using a homemade pie crust, I slightly adapted this recipe from recipes found at The Messy Baker and Canadian Living.

Ingredients:
double pie crust from your favourite recipe
4.5 cups frozen raspberries (a little less than a 600g bag)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp butter
cream
sprinkle of sugar

Method:

1. Mix frozen raspberries, sugar, and flour in a bowl and gently toss to coat.

 2. Pour berries and sugar mixture into pie crust. I had an 8" pie plate with a homemade crust and it seemed to fit pretty well. Sprinkle lemon juice over berries and dot with butter.

 3. I was feeling bold, so I rolled a second pie dough and cut it into strips for a lattice top. I watched a few videos on how to make the lattice and went for it. I brushed the lattice with cream and sprinkled it with sugar.

4. Bake in 425°F oven for 15 minutes. Turn oven down to 350°F and continue baking for an additional 45-60 minutes. I actually baked mine for an additional 70 minutes as the bottom didn't seem brown enough at 60 minutes. The raspberry filling was bubbling and the pie was golden brown when it came out of the oven.

This pie was really, really lovely. It's definitely on my list of desserts that I will make again and again.

Try, Try, Try Again

I made a second attempt at pie crust dough on the weekend. I used the same recipe as last week, but made some adjustments based on the challenges I encountered.  First I added an additional 2 tbsp of ice cold water when forming the dough to combat dough dryness. And to fight having "too cold" dough, I did not refridgerate it before I rolled it.

I also watched a few how to videos on YouTube so I could get a feel for pie crust dough. The best part of watching these bakers, was they both were very reassuring that 'pie crust dough takes practice' and 'pie crust doesn't have to be perfect'.

Here is how mine rolled out:

The edges kind of broke apart, but with some determination I got it into my pie plate.

The crust had a few cracks, but held up pretty well. The more I practice the better I will get at it.

Pie Crust Dough - Fail

So I took the dough out of the fridge and attempted to roll it. And it crumbled like a little bitch.

I asked the internet the ultimate question: "why?"

Maybe the dough was too cold. Maybe the dough was too dry. The internet forums said I could add more water, but if I did, try not to handle it too much. How do you mix in water without handling it too much?

So I played around with ball number one and completely wrecked it. I moved on to ball number two, making an effort to handle it less.

I got it to roll out finally, but I know I handled it waaaaayyyyy too much, and when I tried to line the pie plate, the dough broke in a zillion places that I "patched" with pieces that were stuck to the rolling board.

It was at this point that I called Mom.

"Rolling pie crust never works right."

"I never put the dough in the fridge."

"It's kinda late to be making a pie anyway, isn't it?"

My Mom is amazing and I probably should have called her this afternoon for tips. But at least I have new ideas for next time, as I have now chucked this batch of dough in the green bin.

Going to have another go at it later this week.